All of them have a long track record of consistently outperforming their peers and relevant markets and as a result have attracted huge amounts of investor capital.
However, as this week’s re-balancing highlighted, there are 28 others that have retained their FE Alpha Manager status every year.
While these include other well-known names such as Richard Woolnough, Richard Pease and Crispin Odey, there are some lesser known names among them as well.
For instance, Julian Lewis – who runs less than £150m across his two funds – has maintained his FE Alpha Manager rating in each of the last five years.
He currently manages the £98m Cavendish Worldwide fund – which he launched back in 1994 – and the five crown-rated Cavendish UK Balanced Income fund, which has a much shorter track record spanning back to May 2010.
The funds have outperformed their respective sectors since they were launched.
By combining the two portfolios, FE Analytics data shows that Lewis has returned 123.97 per cent since the turn of the century, beating his peer group composite by close to 75 percentage points. He has also comfortably outperformed his peers over one, three, five and 10 years.
Performance of manager vs peers since Jan 2000
Source: FE Analytics
Another lesser known FE Alpha Manager stalwart is Victor Wood.
He has a track record of running funds in the IMA universe which spans back to 1990. He currently heads up the McInroy & Wood Balanced and McInroy & Wood Income funds.
Both of his portfolios sit in the IMA Mixed Investment 40%-85% Shares sector and invest in straight equities and bonds. Our data shows that they have been among the top three best performers in the sector over the last decade, with returns in excess of 145 per cent.
Those returns have also been consistent. Wood’s McInroy & Wood Balanced fund has beaten the sector average in seven out of the last 10 discrete calendar years while his Income fund has outperformed in eight.
Wood’s son, Tim, is also an FE Alpha Manager. He heads up the McInroy & Wood Global Smaller Companies fund.
Alongside Victor Wood, other mixed asset FE Alpha Manager stalwarts include Martin Gray, who runs the CF Miton Special Situations fund, and Robin Hepworth, who heads up Ecclesiastical Higher Income.
There are a large number of consistent FE Alpha Managers that run funds in the UK equity sectors.
One of these is Daniel Nickols, who has had great success running the Old Mutual UK Smaller Companies and Old Mutual UK Smaller Companies Focus funds.
He took over the £831m Old Mutual Smaller Companies fund in January 2004. It is the fourth best-performing portfolio in the IMA UK Smaller Companies sector over 10 years with returns of 353.53 per cent, beating its benchmark – the Numis Smaller Companies ex IT index – by more than 120 percentage points.
Performance of fund vs sector and index over 10yrs
Source: FE Analytics
It also has the seventh best Sharpe ratio in the sector over that time.
Andy Brough, Mark Hall and Mark Slater have also maintained their FE Alpha Manager status throughout.
The last five years have been particularly volatile for European equities. Following the fallout of the financial crash, the eurozone was thrown deeper into chaos as the sovereign debt crisis began to bite.
However, since Mario Draghi’s “whatever it takes speech” in the summer of 2012, European equities have bounced back.
While the majority of Europe ex UK managers have performed well in the more risk-on environment, there are a number that have been able to keep their FE Alpha Manager rating throughout the last five years because they have delivered strong risk-adjusted returns in both up and down markets. Barry Norris is one such example. He launched his £219m FP Argonaut European Alpha fund in May 2005.
It is the third best-performing portfolio in the IMA Europe ex UK sector over that time with returns of 180 per cent, which are close to double the returns of its MSCI Europe ex UK benchmark. It has also delivered top-quartile returns over one, three and five years.
Those returns aren’t just down to a couple of good years, as FE Analytics data shows that Norris’s fund has been a top-quartile performer – and has comfortably beaten its benchmark – in five out of the eight discrete calendar years since its launch.
Norris is joined by Schroders' Leon Howard-Spink, Threadneedle’s David Dudding and Neptune’s Rob Burnett on the list of European FE Alpha Manager stalwarts.
Turning to the US market, while it is commonly viewed as a region where active managers struggle to outperform, Gordon Grender has a long track record of adding value.
Grender has managed the £311m GAM North American Growth fund since February 1985. It tends to shy away from the larger constituents of the S&P 500.
Our data on the S&P 500 only spans back to January 1988, but according to FE Analytics, the fund has beaten the index by more than 1,325 percentage points over that time with returns of 2,589.19 per cent.
Performance of fund vs index since Jan 1988
Source: FE Analytics
GAM North American Growth also sits comfortably in the top quartile of the IMA North America sector over 10 and 20 years.
It has also been a top-quartile performer – and beaten the S&P 500 – in four of the last six calendar years. One of those was the crash year of 2008, where the fund returned 7 per cent compared with the sector and index’s double-digit losses.
Over 10 years, Grender’s fund has been the sector’s best performer in terms of annualised volatility and maximum drawdown. It is also a top-five performer for its downside risk and Sharpe ratio.
Jenny Jones, who is the only female FE Alpha Manager to keep her rating every year, has also outperformed in the US market.
Her £574m Schroder US Smaller Companies fund is the best-performing portfolio in the IMA North American Smaller Companies sector over 10 years, with returns of 177.26 per cent, beating the Russell 200 index by more than 40 percentage points.
